Ricotta Cheese

Okay, most of you probably know how to do this already--but, since I was making some yesterday, I snapped a couple pictures for a "how to" post this week. Lasagna is on our menu tonight and it just isn't right unless it has some ricotta cheese in it! Here's what I do:

1. Find a good option for a cheese cloth. I use some cloths found in the cleaning section of our grocery stores. They are very stiff in the package, but when washed become very soft. Other options are a thin piece of muslin or linen material if you can find a cloth market. I can't say I have every actually seen what a "real" cheese cloth looks like. When I lived in Taiwan, you could buy these little nets for lining your sink drain with--some people used those.  You could even cut up an old t-shirt. Find what works!

2. Place milk in saucepan over low heat. If you want 2 cups of ricotta, you need to use about 6-8 cups of milk. Yesterday I used 3 cups of milk and got about 1 cup of loosely packed cheese.

3. You want to scald your milk--in other words, get it almost boiling but not quite.

4. Turn off the heat. Add vinegar, a Tbs at a time, stirring after each addition. (Lemon juice works, too.) I probably put about 3 Tbs no matter how much milk there is. Stop adding vinegar when the mixture separates into white stuff (is this curds?) and yellow liquid (and whey?).

 

5. Different recipes say different things, but you can let this sit for 2-24 hours I think. I usually let it sit 1-2 hours--until its cool.

6. Prepare a bowl, with your cheese cloth on the top, held on with a rubber band. You can also just line a strainer with the cloth. Depending on how much liquid is in your pot, you may want to use a lid or slotted spoon and drain off a bit before the next step.

7. Pour your cheese into the cheese cloth and let sit for an hour or so in order for it to strain out the liquid. Some people would say overnight, but in my experience its as dry as its going to get in just an hour or two.

You can season it with salt and spices if you'd like, or just use it plain. You use this same process to make cottage cheese, supposedly, but mine has always still looked like ricotta. Maybe someone else can shed some light on that...I'm not a cottage cheese user, so I haven't tried to get it a different texture.

I've actually made this twice this week--we used it on a white pizza and we're making lasagna with it. A lot of calzones in the US would have ricotta in them. I have friends who like topping their spaghetti with it. So, enjoy!